


Renewing Vows

by darklingdawns (Morgana)



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-25
Updated: 2010-07-25
Packaged: 2017-12-28 20:19:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/996141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morgana/pseuds/darklingdawns
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the midst of the trouble with the First, Spike & Dawn reconnect.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Renewing Vows

Spike glanced over at the girl in the passenger seat before turning his attention back to the road. "Shouldn't hold it against her, Bit," he said quietly. "She's only doin' what she thinks is best."

Dawn didn't say anything, just looked over at him before she shook her head and turned to stare out the window. Her breath hitched as she struggled to maintain her calm, very clearly struggling to hold back tears.

Thankfully, Spike didn't try to press the topic, just turned the radio up and kept driving. He waited until they'd pulled over for a pre-dawn breakfast before he tried again. "She wants you safe, an' Sunnydale's right on the brink of war, you know that."

"She always thinks she knows whats best," she shot back. “And what happens when you've taken me... wherever it is you're taking me... LA? To my dad?" She really didn't have to ask, though; she knew Spike would leave her to go back to Buffy. It was what everyone did - they left.

He hesitated, well aware that she wasn't going to like their final destination. "Maybe we'd better head inside first," he hedged.

"No," she told him, folding her arms and turning an even stare on him. “You basically kidnapped me, so you're gonna tell me. Right now.”

Shoving his hands in his coat pockets, he glared down at the ground. "We'regonnagostaywithAngel."

"You mean you're gonna drop me off with Angel so you can go running back to Sunnydale and be all heroic, don't you?"

"No, I mean WE'RE gonna go stay with Angel," he retorted, lifting his head to scowl at her. "Don't think I'd leave you all alone with the giant poof, now, do you?"

She just shook her head again. "I'm sure Angel can take care of me," she sighed. Spike's obsession with her sister wasn't about to stop just because Buffy had told him to leave. He always had to be right there in the thick of it, no matter what.

Spike reached out to touch her hair, but she tossed her head, clearly avoiding contact, and he remembered again her threat to set him on fire. "Reckon he could at that," he said quietly. "But I'm the one promised to look after you, an' I'm the one that's gonna see that through. Til the end of the world, yeah?"

He promised... well, he'd promised a lot of things. He'd promised he wouldn't hurt her, or leave her, and he'd done both. Dawn looked down at the ground, then reluctantly nodded. “Yeah, I guess," she said softly.

It wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement, but he supposed he deserved that. Nodding, he turned and held a hand out. "Right, then. Fancy a bite to eat before we get back on the road?"

A small smile played about her lips, the sight more encouraging than anything else he'd seen from her since coming back from Africa. "C'mon, Bit - bet they've got chocolate chip pancakes," he offered, giving her a tentative smile. "Might as well put somethin' in your stomach, cause I doubt the ponce'll have anythin' but blood around."

She smiled and slid her hand into his. “Chocolate chip pancakes sound good. And we can always stock the fridge when we get there, can't we? Cause I am so not spending time around Angel without my Pepsi.”

Warm fingers slid across his palm, and Spike closed his hand around hers. “Wouldn't dream of askin' you to go without. We'll make Angel pay for it, too. If nothin' else, that'll tick the poof off, an' that's always a good thing.”

Dawn giggled and slid an arm around his waist, snuggling against him as they started walking towards the restaurant. He automatically wrapped one arm around her shoulders and pulled her against his side, then immediately wished he hadn't, as the contact made him very aware of how much she'd changed since that summer that it had been just the two of them. She was almost as tall as he was now, and the soft press of a very womanly curve reminded him that the adoring little girl who used to curl up in his lap was gone forever. As soon as they were in the restaurant, he pulled away from her and slid into the nearest available booth, wondering again why things had to change, why they couldn't just stay as they were.

A brief flash of puzzlement appeared on her face, but she slid into the booth across from him and started looking through the menu, trying to act like she really cared about pancakes when all she really wanted was for all the bad stuff that had happened last year to just go away. “Hey.” Dawn lowered the menu and gave him a shaky smile, but it was clear that he saw right through it. “Listen to me - we're gonna be all right, yeah? Gonna keep you safe, no matter what.”

"Yeah, I know." She set the menu aside and looked at him, really looked at him for the first time since he'd bundled her into the car back in Sunnydale. “And I guess, if I had to go... I'm glad it was you - you know, who's -” She couldn't finish, because how could she say she'd wanted him to be the one to take her away ever since she'd known him?

Thankfully, he seemed to get it, just like he usually did, because he reached across the table and took her hand in his. "Never leavin' you again," he promised. "Gonna look after you long's you let me, just like I should've last year."

Cool fingers wrapped around her hand, the strength and confidence in them reassuring and safe, and for the first time, Dawn felt like things might be all right after all. “I'll always let you take care of me," she promised.

He grinned, looking suddenly years younger. “Right, then. Let's get our food an' hit the road. We've got a poof to annoy!”


End file.
